Blizzcon Pet Revealed!

The Warcraft Twitter has just shared what looks like this year's BlizzCon pet! It appears to be a Murloc version of Grom Hellscream. His name is Grommloc and an icon with that same name was added in a recent beta build.

We have found several placeholder pages in the database using the Grommloc icon:

Facial Re-customization for Gold

Blizzard

With the availability of the updated character models and animations that are being added with Warlords of Draenor, we’ve seen a question pop up among the community: “Will I be able to customize my face?” The simple answer is “yes.”

We’re pleased to announce that the in-game Barber Shop will be able to provide additional facial-customization options for your character once these art updates are made available. For just a little gold, your character will be ready for any occasion and look their very best for any screenshot.

Legendary Cloak Quest Removed In WoD, can't be started in 6.0

Blizzard has posted this morning revealing that the legendary cloak quest, and the cloak that comes with it, will become unobtainable in patch 6.0.2 - when Warlords launches for real on November 13th, not the pre-patch. Once the pre-patch hits, it can't be started.

This is an unusual step--one of the few times a legendary has been removed from the game. So, get your legendary cloak now, if you still can! The good news is that the Black Prince Buff - which also increases the drop rate of the RNG items you need - is being extended until 6.0 launches. What's more, 6.0 will remove the Test of Valor requirement, shortening the time it takes to get a cloak. Is there enough time if you start right now?

Reward Systems Designer Russ Petersen has clarified that the Ordos cloak requirement will be removed at some point, and what will happen if you're on Test of Valor when the patch appears, and Community Manager Bashiok asserts that there's no chance to finish it if you haven't started already:

Blizzard

As your journey takes you from Pandaria to Draenor, we wanted to extend one last opportunity to obtain your Legendary Cloak—and share some important updates related to this iconic item.

Legendary Cloak Changes: Once More unto the Breach

As a part of the transition from Mists of Pandaria to Warlords of Draenor, we’ll be making some changes to the Legendary Cloak quest line and ultimately closing it out as players head into the new expansion. Once the quest is fully closed, the item will no longer be attainable, and the cloak will become a symbol of the great deeds you’ve accomplished in Mists of Pandaria.

With the release of the pre-expansion patch (6.0.2), players who are not already on the journey through this quest line will no longer be able to begin it. We will also be removing the Test of Valor step with patch 6.0.2 as a part of our transition from using Valor as a currency.

Once Warlords of Draenor launches on November 13, the Legendary Cloak quest line will be gone entirely—the quests and the cloak will no longer be obtainable, and any related in-progress quests will be cleared from your log.

But when one door closes, another door opens. In Warlords of Draenor, players will have the opportunity to earn a new Legendary item available exclusively in the new expansion: Khadgar’s Band of the Archmage.

The Gaze of the Black Prince: One Last Look

If you haven’t yet earned your Legendary Cloak, you still have one final opportunity to make accelerated progress on your quest. Rather than end the Gaze of the Black Prince buff on Tuesday, September 16 (as previously announced), the buff will remain active until the release of the Warlords of Draenor pre-patch (6.0.2). This buff increases the reputation gained with the Black Prince by 100%. It also increases the chance of obtaining items from his foes needed as a part of the Legendary Cloak quest line, including Secrets of the Empire, Sigil of Wisdom, Sigil of Power, and Titan Runestones.

Good luck on your quest, but remember that your voyage doesn’t end here. Soon, you’ll be setting your sights on the new Legendary item, Khadgar’s Band of the Archmage, in Warlords of Draenor.

Heirloom Vendors Removed in 6.0

Blizzard has posted this morning revealing that Justice Point Heirloom Vendors are being temporarily removed from the game in patch 6.0.2. You can see all the items that are affected here.

Community Manager Lore has also clarified that in addition to the ones stated below, heirlooms will still be purchasable with Champion's Seals, and Russ Petersen has clarified the Brawler's Guild Heirloom:

Blizzard

With the upcoming release of Patch 6.0.2, we’ll be sending the vendors who sell Heirlooms for Justice Points on a nice vacation.

As you might already be aware, both Justice and Valor Points are being removed as currencies from the game in 6.0.2. As we started to work on new ways to buy Heirlooms, we found that we were setting their value up for a rollercoaster ride. That's because we’re also working on a larger Heirloom system for a future patch, and we don’t want to introduce an interim pricing scheme that could temporarily devalue Heirlooms or limit how we’d be able to give them out in the future. Rather than make players face buyer’s remorse and hand-wringing decisions about when to buy, we’re going to give the Justice Heirloom vendors some time off while we work on improving the system as a whole.

One thing to note is that this change only affects vendors that sell Heirlooms for Justice. PvE Heirlooms will still remain available at the Darkmoon Faire and the Trial of the Crusader, and PvP Heirlooms will continue to be available for Honor.

Just put them up for purchase for Gold instead... Why the heck do they have to be eliminated entirely for X duration?

Because that would altar their valuation. Is it better to go get them now, wait for them to be purchasable with gold, or wait for some future system based on you-don't-know-what? How pleased will you be if you bet on the wrong one? When we do have a future system are we then bound to constraints we've made for ourselves by making them purchasable with gold or otherwise? We'd just rather that not be a corner we paint ourselves into, and make you potentially pay for it.

Heirlooms have been available for 6 years, there's been plenty of time to obtain them. They're just taking a short break from being obtainable by Justice right now until we implement a more holistic system in a future patch.

Heirloom Gold Costs in Warlords of Draenor

Wowhead Site Manager Perculia has put together a guide to gold costs for Heirlooms in Warlords of Draenor - despite the post above they're still in on Beta!:

As covered recently, Heirlooms now cost gold on the beta instead of Justice Points. Valor and Justice Points are being removed. Heirloom prices are affected by reputation, so make sure to hit Exalted with Stormwind City or Orgrimmar to get a 20% discount.

These are the current prices for heirlooms (no reputation discount). Click on the links to see a filtered list of heirlooms:

Comment by Kanariya

on 2014-09-16T12:05:14-05:00

Can't decide if I'm okay with this or not. On one hand, it'll kill any incentive to be a twink at 90, which is good. On the other hand, it's removing content, specifically a legendary. They made the mistake of removing one already, it's disappointing that another one will be removed.

...on a third hand that appeared out of nowhere, the legendary wasn't really legendary at all as everyone had it...

idk what to feel!

edit:

-the first time a legendary has been removed from the game.

You mean third? Unless you don't count the MC necklace, Atiesh was removed from the game too.

Comment by Littleraven89

on 2014-09-16T12:05:21-05:00

They removed Atiesh as well. When Naxx got moved to Northrend it became unobtainable.

Comment by Aarkan

on 2014-09-16T12:05:44-05:00

Well this is unprecedented.

Comment by DaltonImperial

on 2014-09-16T12:05:51-05:00

Any update on when (if?) heirlooms will be upgradeable to Level 90?

Comment by Ishna

on 2014-09-16T12:09:48-05:00

There was that necklace removed and Atiesh, right?

Comment by Leviatharan

on 2014-09-16T12:11:42-05:00

"... the first time a legendary has been removed from the game." This poor phrasing and misuse of facts almost gave me a heart attack, like they were going to take away the cloaks people already made.

Because of the move of Naxxramas, you cannot begin the Atiesh questline - which is bound to be where most of the confusion comes from, my own included. Further research shows they also removed the Talisman of Binding Shard the day it first dropped back in Molten Core.

This would not be the first, and I recommend changing the phrasing to mention it's the first time a legendary quest has been locked since Wrath.

Comment by Morguean

on 2014-09-16T12:12:11-05:00

I'm thinking you might want to change that subject line to read "Legendary Cloak QUEST Removed...."

I saw the heading you have now and went "what?, why would they remove the cloak?"

So, yeah

Comment by Marilana

on 2014-09-16T12:16:39-05:00

They're removing the cloak too, it'll be one of those items listed on Wowhead as "No longer obtainable" when Warlords itself hits.

Comment by Cozzene

on 2014-09-16T12:17:03-05:00

...on a third hand that appeared out of nowhere, the legendary wasn't really legendary at all as everyone had it...

Orange text? Legendary. "Everyone has it" means it's common. Legendary refers to the quality of the item, not the scarcity. The two don't always go hand in hand.

That said, I don't really think removing it is a huge deal. We had a very long time to get it, and since you can't transmog it and it won't be BiS once you start raiding at 100, ultimately it's just a "because I can" thing. No major loss, I'd feel the same regarding the other legendary pieces.

Also sorta glad to see JP and VP go - was lousy to go after an heirloom piece only to discover you were short X points and having to go farm the heroics you're sick to death of.

Comment by Ninjaking47

on 2014-09-16T12:22:37-05:00

The fact you have to buy heirlooms with gold is annoying with cross faction ah's coming there will be no way to make gold in this expansion you would have to sit there daily grinding the daily's again and again just for a repair bill cost then your left with nothing, blizzard increases the gold prices for mounts and everything else but doesn't think how do they expect us to pay this gold amount when the most they give us is 30 gold from raid finder, come on blizzard throw us a line here we are sinking. Your forcing us to buy gold from gold sellers which is what your against, i rather buy the gold directly from blizzard store if they only gave us an option, just put a cap on the amount of gold you can buy for each account like 10k gold. Just do something to increase the gold flowing to our characters.

Comment by RockwellH

on 2014-09-16T12:24:15-05:00

I don't have the Cloak and I don't want it, but I don't think they should remove it .

Comment by Mistro

on 2014-09-16T12:25:22-05:00

Darn, I was really looking forward to the heirlooms for gold change (and buying about 3+ pieces the day it released).

Comment by unoshi

on 2014-09-16T12:27:36-05:00

Well this is... yeah. no complaints, just wondering why are they removing it? Wouldn't be long before they say all legendary's will be removed pre WoD.

Comment by RockwellH

on 2014-09-16T12:29:35-05:00

The fact you have to buy heirlooms with gold is annoying with cross faction ah's coming there will be no way to make gold

Please there will always be gold to be made .. right now in the beta AH is in full swing and people are making lots of gold

Comment by ArticSkoll

on 2014-09-16T12:33:16-05:00

it says the bc and LK gems are being removed as trade goods. question is are they just being removed off the vendors that sold them for justice points and still obtainable thru related expac raids only then or are they removed from game entirely?

Comment by jackybg

on 2014-09-16T12:36:18-05:00

Plz do something about PVP, its so unbalanced right now, that it's stupid...Hybrids rule, warlocks drain life all day, melees are unkiteable , dmg overall is rly low.

Comment by michael00

on 2014-09-16T12:37:19-05:00

Why would they make people farm this quest,then get rid of it.So if you are leveling a toon to 90,I would not advice you to start the legendary quest line just for the quest to be gone.Also why would Blizzard delete a quest when they are allowing people to buy lvl 90s when you pre-order a Warlords of Draenor copy.I also want to know what is going to happen to Ordos or his achievement if you have not obtained the cloak when the patch comes out.

Comment by spiny64

on 2014-09-16T12:50:27-05:00

Is sad that they remove the Legendary Questline... I mean, in the future, this could become something nice for ppl who never got it... think of it the same way ppl now solo farm the Twinblades, Sulfuras, etc....

It is removing content, hard and interesting content... which in time, when players get sick of repeating WoD heroics and raids, will sorely miss...

I already got one Cloak but I'm not discarding the chance that I would return with another character for another... specially one that can get a different cloak....